Pantry Challenge 2026 Progress Report

We're almost done with the January Pantry Challenge.  It's time to evaluate my usage, purchases, and what's left.

First, the wins.  I think I've gone through everything shelf-stable past its date.  Doing that in only a few weeks means I am not hoarding food.  I've done my last shop for the month, and have spent $28.16, which is ridiculous.  Not for this week, for the whole month.  It would have been a dollar less, but I wasn't happy with the temperature of the egg case this week and got protein shakes instead of liquid egg whites.  My lists were almost entirely yogurt, eggs, and bananas.  While there are still some home-canned goods older than a year, none are a safety concern.  My rices and legumes are a lot more streamlined.  That makes me very happy.  I have gotten rid of most of the gallon-sized freezer bags in the kitchen freezer, with the new amounts fitting in quarts or even used up.

There may be more in the chest freezer than when I started, which is driving me nuts.  Not taking a photo of that.  I turned some older ingredients into baked goods, then froze them.  Some preservation projects involved repackaging items for the freezer.  I've also cut back my portion sizes at meals to something appropriate for my current metabolism, so "four" servings is more like five or six.  I need to set aside time for exercising.  Those extra lunch-sized portions end up in the freezer.  I'm trying to eat them the following week.  I do still have two months until the great defrost.

What I'm learning is that I have plenty of food on hand.  I'm one person who only needs 1,400-1,700 calories per day.  How little I eat was very evident at Chanukah, when I put what I think of as a week's worth of food on the table for one dinner party.  If the drama of shopping like 2020 happens again, I could make it a month, even the vegetables.  I'm going to do this again in February, primarily to see how long the vegetable situation stays stable.  I do need some items that aren't necessarily food but end up on that bill.  I might be able to keep some categories going until Passover, which will offset the increased cost of KLP items and what I spend on Seder itself.

I've found that my schedule has made me opt for canned or pre-cooked beans most of the time.  I'll can up some more soon.  I also have 3 lbs of chuck roast and a pork butt coming out of the freezer to can next week, when "shredded meat" is on the meal plan for any jars that don't seal.

It has been so hard to keep myself from buying all sorts of groceries for "later".  I make more impulse purchases than I realized.  I talked myself out of b/s chicken breasts for canning, since it turns out I don't use Ugly Chicken, as wonderful as it tastes.  I do use the beef and pork, and mine is far superior to store-bought canned.  I did buy four cans of tuna at 69¢ each.  I could have deducted that $2.76 from my total according to most people's rules.  That's enough for the year unless I really get in a tuna mood.  I refrained from stocking up on anything else.  It took a lot of willpower.  I miss grocery shopping.